


Agree to Disagree

by Minutia_R



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Cultural Differences, Dreamworld Shenanigans, Ghosts, Hugs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 02:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7667134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minutia_R/pseuds/Minutia_R
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Onni and Mikkel have very different metaphysical worldviews.  Sometimes this has practical consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Agree to Disagree

**Author's Note:**

> I always think, "I like Mikkel, I should write more stories where Mikkel is a central character." But whenever I do, someone ends up dead.

When Onni saw the tunnel wall carved with names at Öresund, he knew right away what it was for. It was so the spirits of the dead would see their names there and know they had no more place among the living, so they wouldn’t make their way back through the tunnel and across the bridge to bother the people they’d left behind.

Mikkel didn’t see it that way. “It’s a memorial,” he said shortly. Usually, no matter what he was saying, his voice held a layer of irony that set Onni’s teeth on edge. That time it didn’t. “Gone is gone.”

At the time, Onni didn’t argue, only reflected that sometimes the godless ones knew what they were doing, even if they didn’t understand why they were doing it.

Now, he isn’t so sure.

In the dreamworld, the place is still there, so close to Onni’s own that he can cross over to it without getting his boots wet. When he gets there, he has to squint against the bright summer sunlight. There are no trees to filter it, only stubbled fields, a pasture dotted with cows, a barn with bales of hay stacked against it. And, sitting on one of the hay bales and leaning against the side of the barn, his eyes closed and his face tilted back to catch the sun, Mikkel.

“You’re dead, you know,” says Onni.

Mikkel opens his eyes a lazy fraction. Onni shifts uncomfortably under his cloak. Why is this place always so warm? “If you say so,” says Mikkel.

Once, Onni tried to explain the situation to him. But it’s not that Mikkel doesn’t understand. It’s simply a philosophical difference. Gone is gone--that’s what Mikkel has always believed. Therefore, not gone is not gone. It’s logical. Stupid, but logical.

Mikkel scoots over, making room for Onni. Onni takes his cloak off and spreads it over the bale of hay before he sits down, because even in a dream he doesn’t enjoy having dozens of bits of straw poking him in the backside. He rests against Mikkel’s chest and Mikkel brings his arms up and around, completely enveloping him.

Onni would never do so aloud, but he has to concede that Mikkel has a point. There’s nothing ethereal about his embrace. It’s firm and solid, and he smells of livestock and antiseptic, a combination that makes Onni’s eyes sting. When the big stubborn idiot finally moves on, Onni doesn’t know where he’s going to find that smell again.

“Someday _I’m_ going to die,” says Onni. “And you’d better believe that I’m not going to stick around here for you.”

He can feel Mikkel’s bulk shift against him in a shrug. That’s all the answer Mikkel gives.

They’ve never bothered arguing with each other.

**Author's Note:**

> There were a couple of things that inspired this story:
> 
> 1) Somebody's exchange letter. They had an interesting set of prompts, and I thought, "I could do something with that!" Unfortunately, what I could do involved Mikkel being dead, and they didn't want that, so they will remain nameless for now unless they want me to name them. (ETA: I think at this point it's safe to say that it was yuuago. <3)
> 
> 2) Recent events in the comic. Silly Danes, not letting Onni lead them to the afterlife.
> 
> 3) Some research involving Finnish magic/folk beliefs I was doing for another story, which mentioned cutting blazes in trees between a community and its graveyard to remind the spirits of the dead to stay on their own side. I saw some parallels.


End file.
